Chapter 215: An Eye for an Eye
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars Synopsis With Flash Gordon held as his hostage, Ming escapes from the throne room via the secret hatch and warns that if anybody attempts to follow him, Flash will die. However, Flash does not yield so readily. As Ming snarls his threats from the hidden recess behind the throne, Flash overpowers his guard. Ming and Tarnak flee the scene, slipping through a secret wall panel as Flash fights his man. Prince Barin blasts through the wall and leads the effort to help Flash, but by that time Ming has gone. Despite Tarnak's warning that the Power House is the first place that people will look for them, Ming is determined to head there anyway: "They'll find the Emperor Ming is prepared for them!" Flash is told that the Nitron Squadron is on its way to attack the Clay People. The Bomber Commander tells Flash that the Air Marshal has the authority to stop that squadron. Flash has the Air Marshal contact the squadron using the Televisor, but before the Marshal can give them the necessary orders, contact is lost when the power mysteriously fails. No one has noticed that this was due to the Air Marshal tampering with the televisor. Flash sends the Commander and the Air Marshal to take a Stratosled and to try and head off the squadron before it is too late. But the Air Marshal is still loyal to Ming and once they get to the Airdrome he and the Airdrome Captain take the Commander, Zarkov and Happy prisoner. The Air Marshal then reports this news to Ming via a televisor. Ming, now in the Power House, is pleased and wants the 2 captive Earthmen brought to him at once. He also instructs the Air Marshal to keep control of the Airdrome, if anybody not loyal to Ming approaches it, the Air Marshal is to shoot to kill! Dale alerts Flash that the Nitron beam is active once again. Flash says that at least this now tells them exactly where Ming is. He sends Barin to find Zarkov and Happy and to meet up with him at the Power House. Meanwhile, in the Power House, Tarnak advises Ming that, at full intensity, the Nitron Lamp burns up Nitron as quickly as it is gathered from the Earth. Ming snarls that he is not interested in collecting Nitron now, his only aim is to destroy the Earth as quickly as possible! On Earth, the catastrophic disturbances have recommenced as the planet suffers the effects of the devastating ray from Mars. As Ming gloats that the Earth cannot survive, Tarnak urgently reminds him that his enemies are here on Mars. Ming, becoming increasingly fanatical, babbles about how it is written that all planets but one shall be destroyed. Worried, Tarnak slips quietly away. Outside the Power House, Flash sees Zarkov, Happy, and the Commander being led at gunpoint by the Airdrome Captain. He rescues them and they tell him about the Air Marshal's treachery. Then the group encounter the fleeing Tarnak who tells them that Ming has gone mad, that he is trying to destroy the Earth and will next try to destroy Mars. Ming, armed with a rifle, shoots at them from the window. The group take cover. With Zarkov drawing Ming's fire, Flash sneaks around to the rear of the Power House and enters via another door, but Ming sees him. The evil Emperor gives Flash a simple choice: to get into the Disintegrating Room, or to be shot dead where he stands. However, Barin has taken control of the Nitron squadron, and has them start bombing the Power House. The first explosion rocks Ming, who drops his weapon. Zarkov and the others arrive, warning that Barin is bombing the Power House and that they need to get out of there quickly. But Tarnak has snatched up the rifle. Ming congratulates Tarnak on his quick thinking, but his mood quickly changes when Tarnak orders him to get inside the Disintegrating Room. Flash protests, but Tarnak orders them not to interfere. Ming is locked in the room and, as Tarnak activates the controls, he is subjected to devastating rays. By the time Flash and Zarkov can outwit Tarnak and overpower him, it is too late, Ming is dead. Barin joins them and learns the news. He explains that he forced the Air Marshal to turn the squadron back and got them to bomb this place. The Nitron Lamp has now been destroyed, the Earth is safe once more. The party return to the Valley of Desolation to say their goodbyes and ready themselves for the long journey back to Earth in Barin's rocket ship. The Clay King invites Flash to stay, but Flash replies that his work on Mars is now concluded and insists that, under the Clay King's rule and with Prince Barin ruling the Forest People, Mars will be okay from now on. Flash and his friends arrive safely back on Earth and are given a hero's welcome. Recap card Trivia *What was Flash's plan for Ming if Tarnak had taken Ming prisoner? *The Air Marshall is guarding the Airdrome platform with orders to shoot anybody on sight. Barin goes there to fetch Zarkov and Happy, not anticipating any trouble. Within minutes he has somehow not only overpowered the Air Marshall, he has succeeded in bringing the squadron back to the palace, boarded one of the ships, taken off and started bombing the Power House which was the place where Flash told him to meet. *Having been outside the Power House and not in reach of a communicator, Zarkov somehow knows that it is Barin in the stratosled which is dropping bombs on them. *The Air Marshal communicates with Ming using a televisor. On his screen, he sees Ming, but for some reason the screen on Ming's televisor is completely black. *In the scene where the Airdrome Captain leads the Commander, Zarkov, and Happy away at gunpoint with their hands bound, actor Donald Kerr does some comic stumbling. However, Kerr completely loses his balance and it looks as though his subsequent fall as he passes through the doorway was unintentional. *Tarnak runs from Flash, who shouts "Stop, or I'll shoot!" Tarnak continues running, but then stops and surrenders when he has reached a corner, where he would have been safe from being shot. *In the scene where Ming is forced into the Disintegrating Room, Flash appears to have several good opportunities to try and jump Tarnak and wrestle the gun from him, which he spurns. When he finally does try and seize the gun, he takes a much bigger risk as he has to take several paces before he can even reach Tarnak. *Ming's body is not shown following his apparent death in the Disintegrating Room. The inference is that the damage to his body is too gruesome to show, but of course the following serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, established that Ming did not perish in the Disintegrating Room after all. *The final montage of shots show Flash, Dale, and Zarkov being hailed as heroes, but Happy, rather unfairly, is not included. The newspaper which flashes up is the New York Sentinel, not the Washington Dispatch which was the publication Happy worked for and which one would have expected to have the exclusive story of the adventure on Mars. Gallery Category:Serials Chapters